This thesis describes a novel and robust way of deriving a Hamiltonian of the interacting boson model based on microscopic nuclear energy density functional theory. Based on the fact that the multi-nucleon induced surface deformation of finite nucleus can be simulated by effective boson degrees of freedom, observables in the intrinsic frame, obtained from self-consistent mean-field method with a microscopic energy density functional, are mapped onto the boson analog. Thereby, the excitation spectra and the transition rates for the relevant collective states having good symmetry quantum numbers are calculated by the subsequent diagonalization of the mapped boson Hamiltonian. Because the density functional approach gives an accurate global description of nuclear bulk properties, the interacting boson model is derived for various situations of nuclear shape phenomena, including those of the exotic nuclei investigated at rare-isotope beam facilities around the world. This work provides, for the first time, crucial pieces of information about how the interacting boson model is justified and derived from nucleon degrees of freedom in a comprehensive manner.

In conventional metals, various transport coefficients are scaled according to the quasiparticle relaxation time, \tau, which implies that the relaxation time approximation (RTA) holds well. However, such a simple scaling does not hold in many strongly correlated electron systems, reflecting their unique electronic states. The most famous example would be cuprate high-Tc superconductors (HTSCs), where almost all the transport coefficients exhibit a significant deviation from the RTA results. To better understand the origin of this discrepancy, we develop a method for calculating various transport coefficients beyond the RTA by employing field theoretical techniques. Near the magnetic quantum critical point, the current vertex correction (CVC), which describes the electron-electron scattering beyond the relaxation time approximation, gives rise to various anomalous transport phenomena. We explain anomalous transport phenomena in cuprate HTSCs and other metals near their magnetic or orbital quantum critical point using a uniform approach. We also discuss spin related transport phenomena in strongly correlated systems. In many d- and f-electron systems, the spin current induced by the spin Hall effect is considerably greater because of the orbital degrees of freedom. This fact attracts much attention due to its potential application in spintronics. We discuss various novel charge, spin and heat transport phenomena in strongly correlated metals.

Three dimensional (3D) optical geometries are becoming more common in the literature and lexicon of solar cells. Three Dimensional Solar Cells Based on Optical Confinement Geometries describes and reveals the basic operational nuances of 3D photovoltaics using three standard tools: Equivalent Circuit Models, Ray Tracing Optics in the Cavity, and Absorber Spectral Response. These tools aide in understanding experimental absorption profile and device parameters including Jsc, Voc, Fill Factor, and EQE. These methods also apply to individual optical confinement geometry device, integrated optical confinement geometry device, and hybrid optical confinement geometry device. Additionally, this book discusses the importance of these methods in achieving the goal of high efficiency solar cells and suggests a possible application in large-scale photovoltaics business, like solar farms.

This book deals with all aspects of plasmonics, basics, applications and advanced developments. Plasmonics is an emerging field of research dedicated to the resonant interaction of light with metals. The light/matter interaction is strongly enhanced at a nanometer scale which sparks a keen interest of a wide scientific community and offers promising applications in pharmacology, solar energy, nanocircuitry or also light sources. The major breakthroughs of this field of research originate from the recent advances in nanotechnology, imaging and numerical modelling. The book is divided into three main parts: extended surface plasmons polaritons propagating on metallic surfaces, surface plasmons localized on metallic particles, imaging and nanofabrication techniques. The reader will find in the book: Principles and recent advances of plasmonics, a complete description of the physics of surface plasmons, a historical survey with emphasize on the emblematic topic of Wood's anomaly, an overview of modern applications of molecular plasmonics and an extensive description of imaging and fabrications techniques.

The field of semiconductor nanostructures is of enormous and still-growing research interest. On one hand, they are already realized in mass products such as high-electron-mobility field-effect transistors and quantum-well lasers. On the other hand, they allow, in specially tailored systems, the investigation of fundamental properties such as many-particle interactions of electrons in reduced dimensions. This book bridges the gap between general semiconductor textbooks and research articles.

This book is about the work of 10 great scientists; who they were and are, their personal background and how they achieved their outstanding results and took their prominent place in science history. We follow one of physics and science history's most enigmatic phenomena, superconductivity, through 100 years, from its discovery in 1911 to the present, not as a history book in the usual sense, but through close ups of the leading characters and their role in that story, the Nobel laureates, who were still among us in the years 2001-2004 when the main round of interviews was carried out. Since then two of them already passed away. For each one of the 10 laureates, the author tells their story by direct quotation from interviews in their own words. Each chapter treats one laureate. The author first gives a brief account of the laureates' scientific background and main contribution. Then each laureate tells his own story in his own words. This book is unique in its approach to science history.

Fundamentals of III-V Semiconductor MOSFETs presents the fundamentals and current status of research of compound semiconductor metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) that are envisioned as a future replacement of silicon in digital circuits. The material covered begins with a review of specific properties of III-V semiconductors and available technologies making them attractive to MOSFET technology, such as band-engineered heterostructures, effect of strain, nanoscale control during epitaxial growth. Due to the lack of thermodynamically stable native oxides on III-V's (such as SiO2 on Si), high-k oxides are the natural choice of dielectrics for III-V MOSFETs. The key challenge of the III-V MOSFET technology is a high-quality, thermodynamically stable gate dielectric that passivates the interface states, similar to SiO2 on Si. Several chapters give a detailed description of materials science and electronic behavior of various dielectrics and related interfaces, as well as physics of fabricated devices and MOSFET fabrication technologies. Topics also include recent progress and understanding of various materials systems; specific issues for electrical measurement of gate stacks and FETs with low and wide bandgap channels and high interface trap density; possible paths of integration of different semiconductor materials on Si platform.

Intense recent activity in the field of high-temperature superconductivity both in Japan and in the rest of the world was discussed at the First International Symposium on Superconductivity held in Nagoya in August 1988. Current research and development efforts by major Japanese companies in the field of high-temperature superconductivity are reported by leading company scientists, to give an overview of the high level of activity in the area. Progress in the development of new materials and recent theoretical work is reported both from Japanese and international researchers. Contributions are organized by topic, with such topics as crystal chemistry and electronic structure, processing and microstructure, tapes and thick films, wires and coils, and thin film processing and properties. Future applications of superconductivity including magnetic levitation vehicles, electronics based on Josephson junctions, power delivery, energy storage, ship propulsion and magnetic resonance imaging are particularly stressed.

Starting with the first transistor in 1949, the world has experienced a technological revolution which has permeated most aspects of modern life, particularly over the last generation. Yet another such revolution looms up before us with the newly developed capability to control matter on the nanometer scale. A truly extraordinary research effort, by scientists, engineers, technologists of all disciplines, in nations large and small throughout the world, is directed and vigorously pressed to develop a full understanding of the properties of matter at the nanoscale and its possible applications, to bring to fruition the promise of nanostructures to introduce a new generation of electronic and optical devices. The physics of low dimensional semiconductor structures, including heterostructures, superlattices, quantum wells, wires and dots is reviewed and their modeling is discussed in detail. The truly exceptional material, Graphene, is reviewed; its functionalization and Van der Waals interactions are included here. Recent research on optical studies of quantum dots and on the physical properties of one-dimensional quantum wires is also reported. Chapters on fabrication of nanowire - based nanogap devices by the dielectrophoretic assembly approach. The broad spectrum of research reported here incorporates chapters on nanoengineering and nanophysics. In its presentation of tutorial chapters as well as advanced research on nanostructures, this book is ideally suited to meet the needs of newcomers to the field as well as experienced researchers interested in viewing colleagues' recent advances.

This third edition of "Semiconductor Lasers, Stability, Instability and Chaos" was significantly extended. In the previous edition, the dynamics and characteristics of chaos in semiconductor lasers after the introduction of the fundamental theory of laser chaos and chaotic dynamics induced by self-optical feedback and optical injection was discussed. Semiconductor lasers with new device structures, such as vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and broad-area semiconductor lasers, are interesting devices from the viewpoint of chaotic dynamics since they essentially involve chaotic dynamics even in their free-running oscillations. These topics are also treated with respect to the new developments in the current edition. Also the control of such instabilities and chaos control are critical issues for applications. Another interesting and important issue of semiconductor laser chaos in this third edition is chaos synchronization between two lasers and the application to optical secure communication. One of the new topics in this edition is fast physical number generation using chaotic semiconductor lasers for secure communication and development of chaos chips and their application. As other new important topics, the recent advance of new semiconductor laser structures is presented, such as quantum-dot semiconductor lasers, quantum-cascade semiconductor lasers, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and physical random number generation with application to quantum key distribution. Stabilities, instabilities, and control of quantum-dot semiconductor lasers and quantum-cascade lasers are important topics in this field.

In recent years, remarkable progress in the fabrication of novel mesoscopic devices has produced a revival of interest in quantum Hall physics. New types of measurements, more precise and efficient than ever, have made it possible to focus closely on the electronic properties of quantum Hall edge states. This is achieved by applying charge and heat currents at mesoscopic length scales, attaching metallic gates and Ohmic contacts, and splitting edge channels with the help of quantum point contacts. The experiments reveal fascinating new phenomena, such as the interference, statistics, and topological phase shifts of fractionally charged quasi-particles, strong interaction and correlation effects, and phase transitions induced by non-Gaussian fluctuations. The thesis discusses some puzzling results of these experiments and presents a coherent picture of mesoscopic effects in quantum Hall systems, which accounts for integer and fractional filling factors and ranges from microscopic theory to effective models, and covers both equilibrium and non-equilibrium phenomena.

The field of high-temperature superconductivity has encouraged an inter disciplinary approach to research. It has required significant cooperation and collaboration among researchers, each of whom has brought to it a rich variety of experience from many other fields. Recently, great improvements have been made in the quality of research. The subject has matured and been launched into the next stage through the resonance between science and technology. The current progress of materials processing and engineering in this field is analogous to that previously seen in the development of semiconductors. These include the appearance of materials taking the place of YBa2Cu307 owing to their improved properties (higher critical temperatures and stronger flux pin ning) in which rare earth ions with large radii (La, Nd, Sm) substitute for Y; the development of technology enabling growth control on the nanometer scale; and precise and reproducible measurements that can be used as rigorous tests of theoretical models, which in turn are expected to lead to the develop ment of new devices. For further progress in high-T research, academics and c technologists must pool their knowledge and experience. I hope that this volume will promote that goal by providing the reader with the latest results of high-temperature superconductor research and will stimulate further discussion and collaboration.

This book gives a survey of the physics and fabrication of carbon nanotubes and their applications in optics, electronics, chemistry and biotechnology. It focuses on the structural characterization of various carbon nanotubes, fabrication of vertically or parallel aligned carbon nanotubes on substrates or in composites, physical properties for their alignment, and applications of aligned carbon nanotubes in field emission, optical antennas, light transmission, solar cells, chemical devices, bio-devices, and many others. Major fabrication methods are illustrated in detail, particularly the most widely used PECVD growth technique on which various device integration schemes are based, followed by applications such as electrical interconnects, nanodiodes, optical antennas, and nanocoax solar cells, whereas current limitations and challenges are also be discussed to lay the foundation for future developments.

This book is addressed to all scientists interested in the use of high magnetic ?elds and in the use of high-?eld facilities around the world. In particular it will help young scientists and newcomers to the topic to gain a better understanding in areas such as condensed matter physics, in which the magnetic ?eld plays a key role either as a parameter controlling the Hamiltonian, or as an experimental tool to probe the underlying mechanism. This concerns mostly strongly correlated and (or) low dimensional systems. Rather than covering all these subjects in detail, the philosophy here is to give essential physical concepts in some of the most active ?elds, which have been quickly growing in the last ten to twenty years. Besides its role as a physical parameter in condensed matter physics, a large magnetic ?eld is essential to Electron Paramagentic Resonance (EPR) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopies. The state of art of high resolution NMRin liquids and solids and high frequency EPRapplied to ?elds like chemistry and biology are also reviewed in this volume. The ?rst series of chapters is devoted to the integer and the Fractional Qu- tum Hall E?ects (FQHE) in two-dimensional electron systems. C. Glattli brushes an historical background and a comprehensive review of transport phenomena in these systems, including recent developments on the mesoscopic electronic transport at the edges of quantum Hall samples, chiral Luttinger liquids and fractional excitations. R.

This volume contains a series of six lecture courses presented by some of the leading exponents in the field of low-temperature physics. Special emphasis is given to theoretical and experimental advances in our understanding of 3He, heavy fermion systems and high-Tc superconductivity. The book provide an ideal basis for graduate courses in low-temperature physics.

Phase separation has become a fascinating subject in the discussion of cuprate superconductors. All these materials have layered structures containing CU02 planes as the most important building blocks. They are coupled only weakly so that the electronic properties show a nearly two-dimensional behaviour. Due to correlations the undoped compounds are insulators of the Mott Hubbard type exhibiting long-range antiferromagnetic order. Upon doping a rich scenario of physical phenomena appears: Even at low hole concentra tions the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature is reduced drastically and spin-glass behaviour as well as a hopping type conductivity can be observed. Further doping leads to metallic-like conductivity and below Tc to super conductivity. In this doping regime antiferromagnetic fluctuations are still observed. At very high charge carrier densities superconductivity is lost and the systems show pure metallic conduction without ,magnetic correlations. One of the most interesting phenomena in high-T c research is the interplay between magnetism and conductivity or superconductivity. Especially the behaviour of charge carriers in the antiferromagnetic background raises a number of open questions. Two scenarios become possible: the carriers tend to delocalize over the whole crystal forming a homogeneous state with band-like structure or they separate into hole-rich (conducting, superconducting) and hole-poor (insulating, antiferromagnetic) phases leading to an inhomogeneous structure.

"Semiconductor-On-Insulator Materials for NanoElectronics Applications" is devoted to the fast evolving field of modern nanoelectronics, and more particularly to the physics and technology of nanoelectronic devices built on semiconductor-on-insulator (SemOI) systems. The book contains the achievements in this field from leading companies and universities in Europe, USA, Brazil and Russia. It is articulated around four main topics: 1. New semiconductor-on-insulator materials; 2. Physics of modern SemOI devices; 3. Advanced characterization of SemOI devices; 4. Sensors and MEMS on SOI. "Semiconductor-On-Insulator Materials for NanoElectonics Applications" is useful not only to specialists in nano- and microelectronics but also to students and to the wider audience of readers who are interested in new directions in modern electronics and optoelectronics.

"Amorphous Chalcogenide Semiconductors and Glasses" describes developments in the science and technology of this class of materials. This book offers an up-to-date treatment of chalcogenide glasses and amorphous semiconductors from basic principles to applications while providing the reader with the necessary theoretical background to understanding the material properties technology of this class of materials. This book offers an up-to-date treatment of chalcogenide glasses and amorphous semiconductors from basic principles to applications while providing the reader with the necessary theoretical background to understanding the material properties. Chalcogenides form a special class of materials, which have one or more of the elements from the chalcogen group, Group VI in the Periodic Table (S, Se. or Te) as a constituent; the chalcogen is mixed with other elements to form various "new" compounds and alloys. Chalcogenides are noncrystalline solids because their structure is "amorphous" or "glassy". Such structures have totally different properties than crystalline solids. Chalcogenide glasses have a number of very interesting and useful properties, which have been already exploited in the commercialization of new devices.

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is one of the most prevalent threats to electronic components. In an ESD event, a finite amount of charge is transferred from one object (i.e., human body) to another (i.e., microchip). This process can result in a very high current passing through the microchip within a very short period of time. Thus, more than 35 percent of single-event chip damages can be attributed to ESD events, and designing ESD structures to protect integrated circuits against the ESD stresses is a high priority in the semiconductor industry. Electrostatic Discharge Protection: Advances and Applications delivers timely coverage of component- and system-level ESD protection for semiconductor devices and integrated circuits. Bringing together contributions from internationally respected researchers and engineers with expertise in ESD design, optimization, modeling, simulation, and characterization, this book bridges the gap between theory and practice to offer valuable insight into the state of the art of ESD protection. Amply illustrated with tables, figures, and case studies, the text: Instills a deeper understanding of ESD events and ESD protection design principles Examines vital processes including Si CMOS, Si BCD, Si SOI, and GaN technologies Addresses important aspects pertinent to the modeling and simulation of ESD protection solutions Electrostatic Discharge Protection: Advances and Applications provides a single source for cutting-edge information vital to the research and development of effective, robust ESD protection solutions for semiconductor devices and integrated circuits.

The thesis by Merce Pacios exploits properties of carbon nanotubes to design novel nanodevices. The prominent electrochemical properties of carbon nanotubes are used to design diverse electrode configurations. In combination with the chemical properties and (bio)functionalization versatility, these materials prove to be very appropriate for the development of electrochemical biosensors. Furthermore, this work also evaluates the semiconductor character of carbon nanotubes (CNT) for sensor technology by using a field effect transistor configuration (FET). The CNT-FET device has been optimized for operating in liquid environments. These electrochemical and electronic CNT devices are highly promising for biomolecule sensing and for the monitoring of biological processes, which can in the future lead to applications for rapid and simple diagnostics in fields such as biotechnology, clinical and environmental research.

The 2002 Spring Meeting of the "Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft" was held in Regensburg from March 25th to 29th, 2002. The number of conference attendees has remained remarkably stable at about 2800, despite the decreas ing number of German PhD students. This can be taken as an indication that the program of the meeting was very attractive. The present volume of the "Advances in Solid State Physics" contains the written versions of most of the invited talks, also those presented as part of the Symposia. Most of these Symposia were organized by several divisions in collaboration and they covered fascinating selection of topics of current interest. I trust that the book reflects this year's status of the field in Germany. In particular, one notes a slight change in paradigms: from quantum dots and wires to spin transport and soft matter systems in the broadest sense. This seems to reflect the present general trend in physics. Nevertheless, a large portion of the invited papers as well as the discussions at the meeting concentrated on nanostrnctured matter.

Life-Cycle Assessment of Semiconductors presents the first and thus far only available transparent and complete life cycle assessment of semiconductor devices. A lack of reliable semiconductor LCA data has been a major challenge to evaluation of the potential environmental benefits of information technologies (IT). The analysis and results presented in this book will allow a higher degree of confidence and certainty in decisions concerning the use of IT in efforts to reduce climate change and other environmental effects. Coverage includes but is not limited to semiconductor manufacturing trends by product type and geography, unique coverage of life-cycle assessment, with a focus on uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of energy and global warming missions for CMOS logic devices, life cycle assessment of flash memory and life cycle assessment of DRAM. The information and conclusions discussed here will be highly relevant and useful to individuals and institutions.

Superfluidity and closely related to it, superconductivity are very general phenomena that can occur on vastly different energy scales. Their underlying theoretical mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking is even more general and applies to a multitude of physical systems.

In these lecture notes, a pedagogical introduction to the field-theory approach to superfluidity is presented. The connection to more traditional approaches, often formulated in a different language, is carefully explained in order to provide a consistent picture that is useful for students and researchers in all fields of physics.

After introducing the basic concepts, such as the two-fluid model and the Goldstone mode, selected topics of current research are addressed, such as the BCS-BEC crossover and Cooper pairing with mismatched Fermi momenta."

This book describes the key theoretical techniques for semiconductor research to quantitatively calculate and simulate the properties. It presents particular techniques to study novel semiconductor materials, such as 2D heterostructures, quantum wires, quantum dots and nitrogen containing III-V alloys. The book is aimed primarily at newcomers working in the field of semiconductor physics to give guidance in theory and experiment. The theoretical techniques for electronic and optoelectronic devices are explained in detail.

One of the critical issues in semiconductor technology is the precise electrical characterization of ultra-shallow junctions. Among the plethora of measurement techniques, the optical reflectance approach developed in this work is the sole concept that does not require physical contact, making it suitable for non-invasive in-line metrology. This work develops extensively all the fundamental physical models of the photomodulated optical reflectance technique and introduces novel approaches that extend its applicability from dose monitoring towards detailed carrier profile reconstruction. It represents a significant breakthrough in junction metrology with potential for industrial implementation.